23 Facts About Hasan Arfa

Hasan Arfa was an Iranian general and ambassador to the Pahlavi dynasty.

Hasan Arfa was a leading figure in the British military network in Iran.

Hasan Arfa was born in Tbilisi, Georgia to an Anglo-Russian mother and Iranian father.

Hasan Arfa's father, Reza Khan Arfa Danesh, was a veteran Iranian diplomat serving as consul-general in Tbilisi; he later served as ambassador to Turkey and Russia.

Hasan Arfa received his early education from tutors and later attended private schools in Switzerland, Paris, and Monaco.

Hasan Arfa joined the Iranian gendarmerie in 1920, and later, the army.

Hasan Arfa first met Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was then Minister of War, at the outset of the campaign against the Kurds in 1921.

Reza Shah's forceful character left a deep impression on him, and Hasan Arfa remained a loyal supporter of the Pahlavis throughout his life.

In 1923, Hasan Arfa married Hilda Bewicke, a British ballerina in Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev's Russian Ballet whom he met in Monaco; they had one daughter, Leila.

Hasan Arfa subsequently served a brief tour in 1926 as military attache in London and attended the Staff College in Paris from 1927 to 1929.

In 1934, Hasan Arfa accompanied Reza Shah on his official visit to Turkey.

Hasan Arfa was appointed inspector general of the cavalry and armed forces in 1936 and promoted to general in 1939.

Hasan Arfa became involved in national politics during the 1940s and 1950s.

In early 1946, Hasan Arfa was instrumental in gathering signatures of parliamentary deputies for a petition supporting Iran's complaint before the United Nations Security Council that Soviet forces continued to occupy northern Iran in contravention of an agreement to withdraw.

Hasan Arfa's actions placed him in the camp of political leaders who tended to perceive malevolent intentions in Soviet policies but benign intentions in British policies.

Hasan Arfa was eventually exonerated, but he was retired summarily from active duty in March 1947.

Nevertheless, Hasan Arfa genuinely was disturbed when Razmara was assassinated in 1951, because he believed the increasing level of political violence threatened the country.

Hasan Arfa served as minister of roads and communications in the brief government of Prime Minister Hosayn Ala during the month following Razmara's assassination, before the parliament voted in Mohammad Mossadegh as premier.

Hasan Arfa distrusted Mossadegh and formed a political group, the National Movement, to disrupt gatherings of Mossadegh supporters, whom he considered to be extremists opposed to the continuation of the monarchy and a strong army.

The National Movement's newspaper published many articles written by Hasan Arfa, supporting the shah and respect for Islam.

Hasan Arfa maintained contact with a variety of political activists, including Mozaffar Baqai of the Toilers' party, the fiery preacher Ayatollah Sayyed Abu al-Qasem Kashani, and Shaban Jafari, an organizer of street mobs.

Hasan Arfa became a founding member of the secret committee of military officers, the Committee to Save the Fatherland, formed in 1952 with the objective of overthrowing Mossadegh.

Hasan Arfa left Iran at the time of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and died in Monte Carlo, Monaco in 1983.